Germany drills holes in Indian passports

When Navi Mumbai-resident Shilpa Mathur collected her passport from the German consulate on Monday, her fingers grazed a big stapler pin that was punched right in the middle of the cover page of her passport.

The consulate’s crude practice of stapling the visa application token to the front page is not only a potential handling hazard, but also inflicts damage on the document.

“If the stapler pin is not removed carefully, it can permanently damage the passport. The German consul’s office should use a more refined process in handling such an important document,” said Mathur.

Commenting on the high handedness of the German officials, a Fort-based visa consultant said that when it comes to the application process, the foreign embassies especially of the western countries have strict guidelines concerning the condition of the passport and the slightest deviation results in denial of visa.

“They reject the application on the smallest pretext, but think little about tampering with our document. Would they have a similar process in handling the passports of German nationals,” he consultant said.

Even the passport office is surprised by the stapling system of the German consulate.

“Passport is a crucial document that should be handled with utmost care by everyone, including the visa issuing missions,” said Vinoy Kumar Choubey, regional passport officer, Mumbai.

On their part, the consulate officials maintained that the stapling system has been in vogue for quite some time.